Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very proud to represent a strong Aboriginal community around La Perouse in Sydney's south. The ancestors of the La Perouse Aboriginal community have cared for and nurtured the lands and waters around Botany Bay—or Kamay, as it's known in local Aboriginal language—for tens of thousands of years. These were the first Aboriginal people to encounter the English and the French when they came into Botany Bay over 200 years ago. This is the home of the Bidjigal people, who have a proud heritage, a proud culture and a proud language. It is home to the La Perouse Panthers and to the Ellas, both the brothers and Marcia, who represented Australia in their respective sports. It is the home of many of the world's best shell artists and boomerang makers, and other artistic performers.

But many of the people of this community, and indeed many Aboriginal Australians, are disappointed with the Turnbull government. They were disappointed with the Turnbull government because of the cuts to Aboriginal services—the $500 million that was cut in the 2014 budget—but, more recently, they've been disappointed with this government for the disrespect and the contempt shown to Australia's Aboriginal people by the PM and the government in the way that they announced they were abandoning Constitutional recognition and rejecting the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The fact it was leaked from cabinet that the government was rejecting this statement and the aspirations of the Australian people has left a very bitter taste in the mouths of many Aboriginal Australians. Since then we've heard nothing from the government about this process of Indigenous recognition.

On 14 February this year, Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people delivered the Redfern Statement to the Prime Minister and the opposition leader, right here in this parliament, requesting a new relationship with government in this country. The theme that stayed with me and that was reiterated in all of those speeches that day was 'do things with us, not to us'. These words were so powerful that the Prime Minister repeated them in his statement to the parliament on closing the gap. The manner in which this government has rejected the Uluru Statement from the Heart and Indigenous recognition recognises that nothing has changed, that the Prime Minister's words were hollow and that the government continues to do things to the Aboriginal people, not with them. I say to Australia's Aboriginal community: my Labor colleagues and I have not abandoned you. Since that time, there have been no statements in this parliament in respect of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and its recognition. I say to the La Perouse Aboriginal community: we respect your heritage, your culture and your position in Australian culture. We will work with you to ensure that you have a voice that is recognised in Australian politics.